AP16:044
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4, 2016
CONTACT: Sam Mahood
(916) 653-6575
Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation
State Legislature. Candidates And Officeholders. Rules And Procedures. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.
SACRAMENTO – Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced the proponent of a new initiative was cleared to begin collecting petition signatures today.
The Attorney General prepares the legal title and summary that is required to appear on initiative petitions. When the official language is complete, the Attorney General forwards it to the proponent and to the Secretary of State, and the initiative may be circulated for signatures. The Secretary of State then provides calendar deadlines to the proponent and to county elections officials. The Attorney General’s official title and summary for the measure is as follows:
STATE LEGISLATURE. CANDIDATES AND OFFICEHOLDERS. RULES AND PROCEDURES. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Requires legislators and legislative candidates take lie detector tests regarding residency and conduct while in office. Suspends legislators indicted for felonies from office without pay. Expands residency requirements and eliminates contractual and privacy rights for legislators. Repeals confidentiality provisions governing certain legislative proceedings and records. Prohibits legislators from receiving compensation from persons or businesses that have lobbied the Legislature within prior 48 months. Prohibits former legislators from lobbying Legislature or elected state officials for 12 years after leaving office. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Potential state costs of millions of dollars or more each year to administer lie detector tests. (15-0125.)
The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1784 and the Attorney General’s tracking number is 15-0125.
The proponent of the measure, Robert Owen Bernstein, must collect the signatures of 585,407 registered voters (eight percent of the total votes cast for Governor in the November 2014 general election) in order to qualify it for the ballot. The proponent has 180 days to circulate petitions for the measure, meaning the signatures must be submitted to county elections officials by August 31, 2016. The proponent can be reached at (916) 487-0337.
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